Protestant just means not Roman Catholic. When Monty Python use it they mean Anglicanism, which is the dominant form of Christianity in the UK. A lot of people originally emigrated to the the colonies because they didn't like the UK's version of Christianity - and for a lot of them that meant they wanted stricter versions.

The wikipedia article on Protestantism includes Anglicans but not the Orthodox Churches.

It calls Protestantism a "broad Reformation movement". Saying Martin Luther started the process of Churches breaking away from the Catholic Church, and although england did it for different reasons (ie Henry the 8th needing to divorce 5 wives) - it was part of a trend at the time of breaks with the Catholic Church.

He actually only divorced 2, he executed 2, one died giving birth to his son, and another outlived him. Also the church splitting happened because of the first wife. Catholics needed permission from the pope to divorce and the pope wouldn't give permission, on account of him basically being a hostage of the Holy Roman Emperor at the time, and Henry's wife being the emperor's aunt.

You're right, Anglicanism is not technically part of Martin Luther's Protestantism nor later Reform movements. Politically however it was useful to draw a line between Protestants (Britain, the Low Countries, Germany, and Scandinavia) and Catholics (Iberia, France, the Italian States, and Austria). So while Anglicanism was not Protestant in origin, Britain was Protestant politically, and later Anglican reforms mirrored the Reformed movement which spread through Protestant countries (notably, Britain & the Netherlands shared several kings because it was considered preferable by Parliament to allow a Dutch monarch than a Catholic). To this day Anglicanism has more in common with Protestantism found in northern & central Europe than it does with British Catholicism (which is notably different politically & historically to European Catholicism. This is partially down to being in the minority, but also due to only limited efforts of mass conversion, which were common on both sides in Europe itself. While disenfranchised, with exception it wasn't a crime to be Catholic like it was a crime to be a Protestant in Spain or France), and both are quite different than American forms of Protestantism (which tended to be more extreme in multiple different directions. Evangelicals are less religiously & socially tolerant than Catholics for example, while Deism can be considered the foundation of modern Humanism and a western form of Yoga).

Anglicanism is usually described as Protestant, and historically has been considered as such. Although you’re right in reality it is a mix, the degree of which varies from church to church. Some Anglican churches look and sound exactly like Catholic churches and constantly flirt with actually switching to become Catholic, and others are close to Evangelical.

As I understand it, with Roman Catholics being historically dominant; groups that form that have specific disagreements with RC are Protestant. That is they protest the "traditional" church. Orthodox, and the like; while having differing tenets aren't as "combative" against Catholics.

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